Male Female
60—Anu 55—Antu
50—Enlil 45—Ninlil
40—Ea/Enki 35—Ninki
30—Nanna/Sin 25—Ningal
20—Utu/Shamash 15—Inanna/Ishtar
10—Ishkur/Adad 5—Ninhursag
6 male deities 6 female deities
Ninurta, we should not be surprised to learn, was assigned the number 50, like his father. In other words, his dynastic rank was conveyed in a cryptographic message: If Enlil goes, you, Ninurta, step into his shoes; but until then, you are not one of the Twelve, for the rank of "50" is occupied.
Nor should we be surprised to learn that when Marduk usurped the Enlilship, he insisted that the gods bestow on him "the fifty names" to signify that the rank of "50" had become his.
There were many other gods in Sumer—children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews of the Great Gods; there were also several hundred rank-and-file gods, called Anunnaki, who were assigned (one may say) "general duties." But only twelve made the Great Circle. They, their family relationships, and, above all, the line of dynastic succession can better be referred to if we show them in a chart:
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THE NEFILIM: PEOPLE OF THE FIERY ROCKETS
Sumerian and Akkadian texts leave no doubt that the peoples of the ancient Near East were certain that the Gods of Heaven and Earth were able to rise from Earth and ascend into the heavens, as well as roam Earth's skies at will.
In a text dealing with the rape of Inanna/Ishtar by an unidentified person, he justifies his deed thus:
One day my Queen,
After crossing heaven, crossing earth–
Inanna,
After crossing heaven, crossing earth–
After crossing Elam and Shubur,
After crossing...
The hierodule approached weary, fell asleep.
I saw her from the edge of my garden;
Kissed her, copulated with her.
Inanna, here described as roaming the heavens over many lands that lie far apart—feats possible only by flying—herself spoke on another occasion of her flying. In a text which S. Langdon (in Revue d'Assyriologie et d'Archeologie Orientale) named "A Classical Liturgy to Innini," the goddess laments her expulsion from her city. Acting on the instructions of Enlil, an emissary, who "brought to me the word of Heaven," entered her throne room, "his unwashed hands put on me," and, after other indignities,
Me, from my temple,
they caused to fly;
A Queen am I whom, from my city,
like a bird they caused to fly.
Such a capability, by Inanna as well as the other major gods, was often indicated by the ancient artists by depicting the godsâ€"anthropomorphic in all other respects, as we have seen-with wings. The wings, as can be seen from numerous depictions, were not part of the body-not natural wings—but rather a decorative attachment to the god's clothing. (Fig. 58)
Inanna/Ishtar, whose far-flung travels are mentioned in many ancient texts, commuted between her initial distant domain in Aratta and her coveted abode in Uruk. She called upon Enki in Eridu and Enlil in Nippur, and visited her brother Utu at his headquarters in Sippar. But her most celebrated journey was to the Lower World, the domain of her sister Ereshkigal. The journey was the subject not only of epic tales but also of artistic depictions on cylinder seals—the latter showing the goddess with wings, to stress the fact that she flew over from Sumer to the Lower World. (Fig. 59)
Fig. 58
Fig. 59
The texts dealing with this hazardous journey describe how Inanna very meticulously put on herself seven objects prior to the start of the voyage, and how she had to give them up as she passed through the seven gates leading to her sister's abode. Seven such objects are also mentioned in other texts dealing with Inanna's skyborne travels:
The SHU.GAR.RA she put on her head.
"Measuring pendants," on her ears.
Chains of small blue stones, around her neck.
Twin "stones," on her shoulders.
A golden cylinder, in her hands.
Straps, clasping her breast.
The PALA garment, clothed around her body.
Though no one has as yet been able to explain the nature and significance of these seven objects, we feel that the answer has long been available. Excavating the Assyrian capital Assur from 1903 to 1914, Walter Andrae and his colleagues found in the Temple of Ishtar a battered statue of the goddess showing her with various "contraptions" attached to her chest and back. In 1934 archaeologists excavating at Mari came upon a similar but intact statue buried in the ground. It was a life-size likeness of a beautiful woman. Her unusual headdress was adorned with a pair of horns, indicating that she was a goddess. Standing around the 4,000-year-old statue, the archaeologists were thrilled by her lifelike appearance (in a snapshar, one can hardly distinguish between the statue and the living men). They named her The Goddess with a Vase because she was holding a cylindrical object. (Fig. 60)
Unlike the flat carvings or bas-reliefs, this life-size, three-dimensional representation of the goddess reveals interesting features about her attire. On her head she wears not a milliner's chapeau but a special helmet; protruding from it on both sides and fitted over the ears are objects that remind one of a pilot's earphones. On her neck and upper chest the goddess wears a necklace of many small (and probably precious) stones; in her hands she holds a cylindrical object which appears too thick and heavy to be a vase for holding water.
Fig. 60
Over a blouse of see-through material, two parallel straps run across her chest, leading back to and holding in place an unusual box of rectangular shape. The box is held tight against the back of the goddess's neck and is firmly attached to the helmet with a horizontal strap. Whatever the box held inside must have been heavy, for the contraption is further supported by two large shoulder pads. The weight of the box is increased by a hose that is connected to its base by a circular clasp. The complete package of instruments—for this is what they undoubtedly were—is held in place with the aid of the two sets of straps that crisscross the goddess's back and chest.
The parallel between the seven objects required by Inanna for her aerial journeys and the dress and objects worn by the statue from Mari (and probably also the mutilated one found at Ishtar's temple in Ashur) is easily proved. We see the "measuring pendants"—the earphones—on her ears; the rows or "chains" of small stones around her neck; the "twin stones"—the two shoulder pads-on her shoulders; the "golden cylinder" in her hands, and the clasping straps that crisscross her breast. She is indeed clothed in a "PALA garment" ("ruler's garment"), and on her head she wears the SHU.GAR.RA helmet—a term that literally means "that which makes go far into universe."
All this suggests to us that the attire of Inanna was that of an aeronaut or an astronaut.
The Old Testament called the "angels" of the Lord malachim—literally, "emissaries," who carried divine messages and carried out divine commands. As so many instances reveal, they were divine airmen: Jacob saw them going up a sky ladder, Hagar (Abraham's concubine) was addressed by them from the sky, and it was they who brought about the aerial destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
The biblical account of the events preceding the destruction of the two sinful cities illustrates the fact that these emissaries were, on the one hand, anthropomorphic in all respects, and, on the other hand, they could be identified as "angels" as soon as they were observed. We learn that their appearance was sudden. Abraham "raised his eyes and, lo and behold, there were three men standing by him." Bowing and calling them "My Lords," he pleaded with them, "Do not pass over thy servant," and prevailed on them to wash their feet, rest, and eat.
Having done as Abraham had requested, two of the angels (the third "man" turned out to be the Lord himself) then proceeded to Sodom. Lot, the nephew of Abraham, "was sitting at the gate of Sodom; and when he saw them he rose up to meet them and bowed to the ground, and said: If it pleases my Lo
rds, pray come to the house of thy servant and wash your feet and sleep overnight." Then "he made for them a feast, and they ate." When the news of the arrival of the two spread in the town, "all the town's people, young and old, surrounded the house, and called out to Lot and said: Where are the men who came this night unto thee?"
How were these men—who ate, drank, slept, and washed their tired feet—nevertheless so instantly recognizable as angels of the Lord? The only plausible explanation is that what they wore—their helmets or uniforms—or what they carried—their weapons—made them immediately recognizable. That they carried distinctive weapons is certainly a possibility: The two "men" at Sodom, about to be lynched by the crowd, "smote the people at the entrance of the house with blindness ... and they were unable to find the doorway." And another angel, this time appearing to Gideon, as he was chosen to be a Judge in Israel, gave him a divine sign by touching a rock with his baton, whereupon a fire jumped out of the rock.
The team headed by Andrae found yet another unusual depiction of Ishtar at her temple in Ashur. More a wall sculpture than the usual relief, it showed the goddess with a tight-fitting decorated helmet with the "earphones" extended as though they had their own flat antennas, and wearing very distinct goggles that were part of the helmet. (Fig. 61)
Needless to say, any man seeing a person—male or female—so clad, would at once realize that he is encountering a divine aeronaut.
Clay figurines found at Sumerian sites and believed to be some 5,500 years old may well be crude representations of such malachim holding wandlike weapons. In one instance the face is seen through a helmet's visor. In the other instance, the "emissary" wears the distinct divine conical headdress and a uniform studded with circular objects of unknown function. (Figs. 62, 63)
The eye slots or "goggles" of the figurines are a most interesting feature because the Near East in the fourth millennium B.C. was literally swamped with wafer-like figurines that depicted in a stylized manner the upper part of the deities, exaggerating their most prominent feature: a conical helmet with elliptical visors or goggles. (Fig. 64) A hoard of such figurines was found at Tell Brak, a prehistoric site on the Khabur River, the river on whose banks Ezekiel saw the divine chariot millennia later.
It is undoubtedly no mere coincidence that the Hittites, linked to Sumer and Akkad via the Khabur area, adopted as their written sign for "gods" the symbol , clearly borrowed from the "eye" figurines. It is also no wonder that this symbol or hieroglyph for "divine being," expressed in artistic styles, came to dominate the art not only of Asia Minor but also of the early Greeks during the Minoan and Mycenaean periods. (Fig. 65)
The ancient texts indicate that the gods put on such special attire not only for their flights in Earth's skies but also when they ascended to the distant heavens. Speaking of her occasional visits to Anu at his Celestial Abode, Inanna herself explained that she could undertake such journeys because "Enlil himself fastened the divine ME-attire about my body." The text quoted Enlil as saying to her:
You have lifted the ME,
You have tied the ME to your hands,
You have gathered the ME,
You have attached the ME to your breast....
O Queen of all the ME, O radiant light
Who with her hand grasps the seven ME.
An early Sumerian ruler invited by the gods to ascend to the heavens was named EN.ME.DUR.AN.KI, which literally meant "ruler whose me connect Heaven and Earth." An inscription by Nebuchadnezzar II, describing the reconstruction of a special pavilion for Marduk's "celestial chariot," states that it was part of the "fortified house of the seven me of Heaven and Earth."
The scholars refer to the me as "divine power objects." Literally, the term stems from the concept of "swimming in celestial waters." Inanna described them as parts of the "celestial garment" that she put on for her journeys in the Boat of Heaven. The me were thus parts of the special gear worn for flying in Earth's skies as well as into outer space.
The Greek legend of Icarus had him attempt to fly by attaching feathered wings to his body with wax. The evidence from the ancient Near East shows that though the gods may have been depicted with wings to indicate their flying capabilities—or perhaps sometimes put on winged uniforms as a mark of their airmanship—they never attempted to use attached wings for flying. Instead, they used vehicles for such travels.
The Old Testament informs us that the patriarch Jacob, spending the night in a field outside of Haran, saw "a ladder set up on Earth and its top reaching heavenwards," on which "angels of the Lord" were busily going up and down. The Lord himself stood at the top of the ladder. And the astounded Jacob "was fearful, and he said":
Fig. 61
Fig. 62
Fig. 63
Fig. 64
Fig. 65
Indeed, a God is present in this place,
and I knew it not....
How awesome is this place!
Indeed, this is none but the Lord's Abode
and this is the Gateway to Heaven.
There are two interesting points in this tale. The first is that the divine beings going up and down at this "Gateway to Heaven" were using a mechanical facility—a "ladder." The second is that the sight took Jacob by complete surprise. The "Lord's Abode," the "ladder," and the "angels of the Lord" using it were not there when Jacob lay down to sleep in the field. Suddenly, there was the awesome "vision." And by morning the "Abode," the "ladder," and their occupants were gone.
We may conclude that the equipment used by the divine beings was some kind of craft that could appear over a place, hover for a while, and disappear from sight once again.
The Old Testament also reports that the prophet Elijah did not die on Earth, but "went up into Heaven by a Whirlwind." This was not a sudden and unexpected event: The ascent of Elijah to the heavens was prearranged. He was told to go to Beth-El ("the lord's house") on a specific day. Rumors had already spread among his disciples that he was about to be taken up to the heavens. When they queried his deputy whether the rumor was true, he confirmed that, indeed, "the Lord will take away the Master today." And then:
There appeared a chariot of fire,
and horses of fire....
And Elijah went up into Heaven
by a Whirlwind.
Even more celebrated, and certainly better described, was the heavenly chariot seen by the prophet Ezekiel, who dwelt among the Judaean deportees on the banks of the Khabur River in northern Mesopotamia.
The Heavens were opened,
and I saw the appearances of the Lord.
What Ezekiel saw was a Manlike being, surrounded by brilliance and brightness, sitting on a throne that rested on a metal "firmament" within the chariot. The vehicle itself, which could move whichever way upon wheels-within-wheels and rise off the ground vertically, was described by the prophet as a glowing whirlwind.
And I saw
a Whirlwind coming from the north,
as a great cloud with flashes of fire
and brilliance all around it.
And within it, from within the fire,
there was a radiance like a glowing halo.
Some recent students of the biblical description (such as Josef F. Blumrich of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration) have concluded that the "chariot" seen by Ezekiel was a helicopter consisting of a cabin resting on four posts, each equipped with rotary wings—a "whirlwind" indeed.
About two millennia earlier, when the Sumerian ruler Gudea commemorated his building the temple for his god Ninurta, he wrote that there appeared to him "a man that shone like Heaven ... by the helmet on his head, he was a god." When Ninurta and two divine companions appeared to Gudea, they were standing beside Ninurta's "divine black wind bird." As it turned out, the main purpose of the temple's construction was to provide a secure zone, an inner special enclosure within the temple grounds, for this "divine bird."
The construction of this enclosure, Gudea reported, required huge beams and massive s
tones imported from afar. Only when the "divine bird" was placed within the enclosure was the construction of the temple deemed completed. And, once in place, the "divine bird" "could lay hold on heaven" and was capable of "bringing together Heaven and Earth." The object was so important—"sacred"—that it was constantly protected by two "divine weapons," the "supreme hunter" and the "supreme killer"—weapons that emitted beams of light and death-dealing rays.
The 12th Planet Page 13